October 2022 Flash Lit #5 - Masks Optional

Masks Optional

 

My mask

protects you.

I wear it to keep my

germs to myself,

those little seeds

of infection.

If I left it off,

you’d see my teeth

and my sharp

pink tongue.

There would be no

Filter for my words,

no mesh

to catch them

between my heart, my mind,

and you.

The mask

conceals the monster.